Sightseeing in Kyiv

On my last full day in Kyiv I started with a morning walk out to St Volodmyr’s Cathedral and then carried on to Kyiv Fortress (unfortunately closed) and the national museum of Chernobyl with its tragic tale of the consequences of the disaster in 1986.

In late morning I caught up with a local guide who took me to a branch of the Ukrainian fast food restaurant Puzata Khata off Kreschatik. The name seems to translate as “Pot-bellied Peasant House” which might not sound inspiring but this proved to be an unexpected highlight of the day. The restaurant serves a range of Ukrainian dishes and it was great to try some of these. As we left an old lady berated us for having eaten in the restaurant, saying that we ought to go to our families for properly cooked Ukrainian dishes not a place like that!

Orthodox Church of Our Lady Pirogoshcha, Podil

In the afternoon we took a walk that took in Andreyevsky Spusk, Podil (with the delightful Orthodox Church of Our Lady Pirogoshcha which was restored in 1998) and the monument to the friendship of nations (constructed in 1982 to commemorate the unification of Russia and the Ukraine).

A Russian and Ukrainian worker hold aloft the Soviet Order of Friendship of Peoples

The arch seemed like an appropriate landmark to have visited on my last day and I began to think about a return to the Ukraine, partly to see Lvov properly but also to explore the Crimean coast. That’s for the future though, now I only need to get my case packed and prepare for the flight home.